The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-09-29
SAMOA.
A1dItI mai Items OF News from Apis
BY a Correspondent

! BY a Correspondents.
/ A correspondent Of the New Zealand
''Herald" writes from Apia under date
I Of August 18th giving some particulars o.
the trouble IN Samoa which may be o.
| interest to our readers. ''The German
/ squadron arrived here from Sydney on
| Thursday the 18th instant, and although
stating to the ConsuIs that they had nc
| special instructions to do anything here,
they had been but a few days in port
when they made it very evident that
| they had something definite in view.
The ball was commenced by sending a
| squad of men on shore right under the
Samoan flag, and IN front of the Sa-
| moan Government House, for revolver
practice This party stopped all traffic
along the Municipal road which they
were firing across They stopped all
people from going along the road, and
even went so far as to attempt to stop the
United States onsul-GeneraI, and told
him that if he went across, he was liable
to be shot.
''The Samoan men who are supposed
to have committed the assault in ques-
ton, were apprehended by the NUM-
cipal police and tried by the municipal
magistrate, who on the most meagre
evidence, sentenced them to one months
imprisonment. To this Judgment they
objected and appealed to the Appellate
Court, which is composed of the three
Consuls. The British and United States
ConsuIs considered there was nothing
like sufficient evidence to warrant a con-
viction, but to please the German Consul
they agreed that the men should
be sent back to the magistrate for
re-trial. The magistrate who by
the way, is German-not having
any further evidence to bring forward,
dismissed the men. telling them not
leave the municipality, and to come up
again for trial when he wanted them.
More than three months have elapsed
since this trial took place, and the POI
lice have found no fresh evidence
against the men, nor has the Magistrate
ever called upon them to come up again
for retrial, as decided by the Board of
Appeal, Notwithstanding all this, how
ever, the just and powerful German
demand Of Malietoa 900
dollars, and an abject apology for an
assault upon lot of tipsy Germans, |
for which he can in no way be held re-
sponsible, and make it one of the pretexts
for declaring war against him 1t is one
Of the most unjust and tyrannicaI de- /
mands that was ever made by any nation |
to be civiIised The German I
Consul then claims $4,000 for petty /
-hieving by Samoans from the German |
for the last four years. This
demand is most unreasonable and I'M
ust; because, wherever Germans
;aught any Samoan stealing, they had
hem tried in the German Court, before
he German Consul and a Samoan
'u1g3, thus giving the Samoans every
AGILITY for furnishing any Samoan
az INT stealing German property
Speaking Of the landing of the Ger
nan forces after Malietoa had refused to
ccede to their demands, the writer goes
n to say that the troops also went into
re London Mission lands, and were
10 break the doors of the
Icuse in, when the British o-Consul
TO come along, and after
'rong remonstrance succeeded in get
ing them out Of the grounds. It ap-
ears that after their declaration Of war
heir principal object was to secure the
erson OF the King. The way the Ger
IAN troops were rushing in and out OF
ne houses looking for Malietoa was
lore like lot of terriers in a rabbit
'arren than anything else have seen.
british and American residents have
eheld the wonderful spectacle of a
owerfuI civilized nation sending a
Iuadron and landing 500 men and six
ig guns to make war on one poor igno-
mt savage. One can hardly believe
nat such an outrage could be perpe-
ated in the nineteenth century.
So far they have not. caught Malietoa.
.e Is some distance in the bush, ac-
it is said, by 1000 armed {
blowers. After chasing Maietoa into
he bush, the Germans next step was !
send man-Of-war and fetch the !
itherto rebel King Tamasese and in
all him as King of Samoa. The be- I
Ell here is that the Germans Will not go {